2  ^eHear, you peoples, all of you;¹

^fpay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

and let the Lord God be a witness against you,

the Lord from his ^gholy temple.

3  ^hFor behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,

and will come down and ⁱtread upon the high places of the earth.

4  And the ^jmountains will melt under him,

and the valleys will split open,

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

5  All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

And what is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6  Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards,

and I will pour down her stones into the valley

and uncover her foundations.

7  All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste,

for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,

and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8  For this I will lament and wail;

I will go ^kstripped and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

9  For her wound is ^lincurable,

and it has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

10  ^mTell it not in Gath;

weep not at all;

in Beth-le-aphrah

ⁿroll yourselves in the dust.

11  Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come out;

the lamentation of Beth-ezel

shall take away from you its standing place.

12  For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

because disaster has come down from the Lord

to the gate of Jerusalem.

13  Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of Lachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to the daughter of Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

14  Therefore you shall give parting gifts²

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing

to the kings of Israel.

15  I will again bring a conqueror to you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

16  Make yourselves ^obald and ^pcut off your hair,

for the children of your delight;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they shall go from you into exile.